Who's married?
by TheCurlymop
Summary: An unnamed officer returns to the hospital to hear some interesting gossip


He's only there for a week, he'd been given the choice of doing absolutely nothing in the local town or going back to the hospital and doing absolutely nothing but surrounded by people he knew. Unsurprisingly he'd chosen the hospital. There were always people to talk to and nurses to flirt with and he knew the officers fairly well and it was a familiar environment. He may have been forced to take his leave but he didn't want to spend it uselessly in some tiny rural town where the only entertainment was the bar – drink had never really worked for him as a way of relaxation.

As an officer on leave he got his own tent and for that he was pretty grateful, it meant undisturbed sleep and not having to make polite conversation with a tent-mate. He woke late that Saturday, tired from travelling back from the front and generally tired as well, there was a reason he'd been forced to take leave. One too many reports of him dropping off at his desk and a patient who'd had a hand amputated unnecessarily because of a mix up on his notes – he should have looked more closely at the hand in question but in his defence it was pretty banged up. But those few problems had led to a look at his file and the discovery that he'd taken no leave since being deployed to the front line medical base and that was apparently the cause for all his mistakes. So here he was, shipped off in disgrace to where he'd begun his career as an army surgeon.

He'd fought so hard to get closer to the front line, not realising how bad it was going to be, how much he would miss the atmosphere of the hospital. Here everyone knew each other, there was time for a chat in the evening and perhaps a round of golf on the dunes if the weather was particularly good. The hospital wasn't just a place of work but also a community and as soon as he'd left it, he'd missed what he'd never known he'd had. At the front, you were lucky if you knew the name of even one of your orderlies, let alone your fellow surgeons. He'd spent his first days in a daze, building a reputation as the amputations guy, who could do a very neat job in about half the time the others took. That became his thing. He was the amputations guy and nothing else. He didn't think he'd ever known the name of the surgeon who had the station opposite him, he was just known as 'head' because he dealt with most of the head wounds that came through. To get back here and remember what a relatively friendly place he had left was painful.

He took the time to wash and shave properly before leaving his tent in search of food and a cup of tea. He didn't need to rush and almost immediately as he sat down outside the mess an orderly came up and offered tea and biscuits which he accepted happily. He sat in the weak sunshine, enjoying listening to the bustle around him. Everyone was going somewhere but no-one rushed and that was a nice contrast to how he'd spent his last few months. He began to tune in to the conversations around him, there was a pair of VADs taking a break on the bench next to him who were gossiping about some wedding or other and a group of men playing cards and smoking, some clearly about to leave to go back to the front and others mobile but very much injured.

'She didn't have any family with her, just those other nurses as attendants…' he heard from the VADs.

'And he only had that other doctor, you know, the one that flirts all the time,' said the other. He smirked, that could have described most of the officers here. But his interest was piqued. Apparently there had been a wedding here recently. He wondered who had got one of the local girls pregnant. That was usually the cause of weddings here, but it was strange that she'd been attended by nurses and not her family. He supposed that they might not have supported the marriage but to have nurses instead of attendants seemed a little sad. Unless… the idea occurred to him… it wasn't a local? Perhaps it was a nurse. The nurses weren't permitted to marry but there were quite a few women around now who weren't part of the corps now the VADs had turned up...

He turned, now actively listening in to the conversation and noticed that the two VADs weren't those he remembered – obviously a new shipment had arrived so now there were more options than the original three he remembered. Still, it was most likely to be one of those, he'd only been gone two months and that wasn't long enough to get married really. He decided to go on a fact finding mission, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do…

He thought he would laugh so hard if he discovered it was Miles who'd been trapped into marriage. That idiot had been asking for it ever since he'd come out to France and honestly he deserved it. Miles was the most likely culprit but there were a few other officers who might have slipped up and gone for a VAD rather than a local who could be easily got rid of. Not that he would recommend that course of action but really it was rather silly to end up married either way.

He slipped into the first ward and quickly noticed the youngest VAD, Flora who was flirting rather outrageously with her friend the orderly and two patients instead of doing any work. He wrote her off right away. There was no way she was married, carrying on like that. That left the other two, more likely candidates anyway. He came across the next VAD, the redhead, talking to a Sister about a patient's fluid intake. He'd just have to hope that at some point one of them did something obvious. Of course, if he didn't see the third, he'd have to assume that she was the married one because actually, he thought that the VADs were probably not supposed to be married either. And surely they were only VADs because they hadn't got married? That was clearly why the red-head was there anyway.

He could remember the last VAD being a bit of a handful, if she was the one then he pitied the poor bugger. She probably ruled the household with an iron fist and he got no say in anything. In the third ward he struck gold. She was remaking a bed a little way down the ward, being watched by another sister and a doctor. Well they were all working so perhaps his assumptions were incorrect. He wanted to find out which of the officers it was then. He headed towards the officers' mess, hoping to find someone to ask or maybe just overhear something conclusive.

He left the officers' mess a few hours later, somewhat unsteady on his feet due to being plied with whiskey even after he'd tried to say no. He really didn't mix well with alcohol at all. He sat on a conveniently placed bench and watched the VADs leave the wards, clearly just off shift. Two walked together and another was walking a little slower with…he squinted… it was the Scot, Gillan. Why was he talking to a VAD? He'd never had any interest in women had he?

Confused, he watched as the leading VADs turned toward their quarters and shouted something over their shoulders to the following doctor and VAD. The girl, Trevalyan, called something back and then continued walking with the doctor. They reached the turning and he waited for her to go after the others but to his increased confusion they kept walking together in the direction of the gates.

'Sweet, isn't it?' murmured a voice next to him. It was Miles.

'They do that every day, pretend that they're nothing to each other and then walk off to their little cottage in the woods and are ridiculously in love. It's lucky they both have the best poker faces I've ever seen. I don't know anyone else who could do it so convincingly.'

He looks at Miles, querying what he's just heard. 'Yep, they're married, have been for a few weeks now. It was very quiet and I'm pretty sure that some people around here still don't know. But look at them,' he gestured to the couple, now off into the distance and about to disappear into the trees, 'You'd have to be blind and stupid not to notice that.'

The couple is hand in hand, face turned towards each other and he's sure he can see the pure joy shining off their faces even if he can't see the actual expressions.

He shakes his head in disbelief. Who'd have thought it would be Gillan who'd got married, and to Trevalyan of all the choices? Granted, she was absolutely beautiful, but it seemed so unlikely. He shifted and turned to Miles. Distraction was needed.

'Fancy a game of golf?'

* * *

A/N Basically I had a picture in my head of Thomas and Kitty being perfectly professional all day and then walking back to their cottage in the evening and being a couple. The POV is no-one in particular and historical accuracy isn't my strong point. Please let me know what you thought J


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